Whidbey lies southeast of the
San Juan Islands. On the northern end of the Whidbey Island's serrated shores is
Deception Pass, while the southern end of the island wedges into
Puget Sound. It was named by
Vancouver in 1792, after the indefatigable Master Joseph Whidbey, who, according to Middleton,
explored more coastline in an open boat than any of
Vancouver's officers.
1 Walbran concurs, and concedes that his seminal book on place names would be incomplete
without a notice of Whidbey;
Walbran goes on to pen a remarkably thorough and eloquent obituary for the man.
2